Published Jul 19, 2008
NewStudentGirly
72 Posts
I think my adviser's at school are getting irritated at me for asking questions about my tests. After our tests are graded, they hand them back to us and we look them over to see if we got any questions wrong. Sometimes, if I get an answer wrong, I see the correct answer marked and it will just click in my head why it was wrong. But If it doesn't, I take the test to the adviser and ask why it was wrong. I'm not trying to prove that I was right,I genuinely want to know WHY my question was wrong, so I can know where my thought process went wrong and so I can change it. People are going to be trusting me with their bodies and lives when I am a nurse, so I just want to make sure NOW that I get things right.......... One example is a question that I had that asked "Pooling of blood in the legs will lead to"- a)thrombosis b) venous stasis . Well, I put B and the correct answer was A. When the answer was wrong, I asked if the reason it was wrong was that pooling of blood was ALREADY venous stasis which will lead to thrombosis, they said no, that's not why it was wrong. And told me to look it up. I know what both of the words mean, I don't need to look them up, I just need to know why I was wrong so I can fix it within myself and MOVE ON lol! I am not trying to hassle the advisers, it's just that we dont have any techer sessions or q&a sessions, all we have are books, discs etc., so I feel sometimes that I need to look at an exeprienced nurse who will help me out and tell me" Okay, you went wrong here." or "this is why you were wrong". Is it presumptious or innapropriate of me to ask them about these questions?
Jules A, MSN
8,864 Posts
It was my experience that they do get a lot of students arguing the questions so maybe that is why they are a little prickly. Unless you have a trusted instructor that takes a liking to you it is best imo to avoid them and just fly under the radar. What I would do is just note the correct answer in your mind and like they said do some research if you still have questions.
It would be my thought that venous stasis is blood pooling so that is why that question is incorrect. Get whatever NCLEX study guide they are suggesting and start doing practice questions and you will learn how to better interpret these type questions. Its all about playing the game by their rules. Hang in there.
ok will do thanks:)
2winniethepooh
10 Posts
I think the key word in that question is "lead to". So if you're asked: Pooling of blood in the legs will lead to- a)thrombosis b) venous stasis . Correct answer - a).
Personally I hope that all my teachers will see the difference between arguing about test results and wanting to know the rationale. I am sorry about your experience...
thanks:) I'm not sure what they think, maybe they think Im just being annoying, lol but I will not ask them about it anymore, I will just come here and annoy all of you.
TALK-OF-MIAMI
19 Posts
yes It Is Appropriate To Ask Questions Especially If U Dont Understand Something. I'm A Surgical Tech Student And We Are Taught That Any And Everything Can Be Questioned. I Understand That When Taking A Test Alot Of Times The Answer Is In The Question... When I Read Your Example And Seen Those To Words "lead To" I Already Thought Of Thombosis....
p.s What Type Of Student Are U
LPN student
Daytonite, BSN, RN
1 Article; 14,604 Posts
no, it is not inappropriate of you to ask these "why" questions. however, you are not showing much initiative to research the answers yourself when you are constantly asking to have the answers handed to you. i'd get irritated with you also.
in the example you gave, if you knew what the words of the answer choices meant then you didn't need to look them up as the instructor suggested nor would you have gotten the answer wrong because pooling of the blood is the definition of venous stasis and that is not what the question asked you. this experienced nurse, as you requested, is telling you that you misread the question and didn't think the answer through properly. as another poster already said, the question asked pooling of blood [or venous stasis] in the legs will lead to [cause] a)thrombosis b) venous stasis. by elimination, "a" is the answer even if you didn't know what "thrombosis" was. a "cause" is an etiology or reason that something happens. thrombosis (http://www2.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwmednlm?book=medical&va=thrombosis), the formation of blood clots within the vascular system, is caused by venous stasis as when patients are on prolonged bed rest and immobile.
Daytonite, I do appreciate your post and your help. You are right, I just didn't understand what the question was asking. Please do not assume that I am not taking initiative to research answers, we haven't had a single class, discussion on anything, . We read modules and test on them. also in my post, I put, "I asked if the reason it was wrong was that pooling of blood was ALREADY venous stasis which will lead to thrombosis, they said no, that's not why it was wrong." So in this situation I realized that's where my thinking could have gone wrong, but since I was told that's not why it was wrong, I didn't quite get it. I am still learning, and have never asked an advisor for an answer to a test question, only on the thought process.
suanna
1,549 Posts
This reminds me of one of my chief complaints about the college of nursing. In every other department the questions were well thought out, researched, and the multiple choice answers followed a logical format. In nursing, the questions were vague, poorly thought out and the answers in multiple choice form were so poorly worded that almost any answer could be right or wrong depending on the interptitation. As to your question- the purpose of handing back the tests with the right and wrong answers marked is so you can look up the rationale on your own. You shouldn't require an advisor to help you figure out where you went wrong but once in a blue moon.
How long is an Lpn program? And what subject do u have to take..
ladynurse1
204 Posts
Why are some of you guys being so hard on Newstudentgirly? If you would read her first post thoroughly, you will see that she went to her advisor with a rationale and was told that she was incorrect so obviously she researched why she missed the question. She didn't go to her advisor for her advisor to give her a rationale. She went to make sure that she was thinking correctly and had research the missed question correctly. I see nothing wrong with that. After all we are paying them to teach us and to help us learn. Since when is it not ok to ask an instructor a question? I would much rather ask a question and find out the correct answer then take the chance of later losing my liscense because I thought I knew something that I didn't and ended up harming a patient.